Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

List of Families Intending to Settle in the Kuban Colony, 1864

As found in the records of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign
Settlers in Southern Russia (Fund 6, Inventory 5, File 278) in the
Odessa Region State Archives, Odessa, Ukraine. Translated from German
in March 2004 by Tim Janzen, Portland, Oregon.

Explanatory comments by Tim Janzen:

This document provides information about a group of 73 families totalling
338 people who planned to settle in the Kuban Colony in the Caucasus
Region in South Russia. All of the people included on the list were
Mennonite Brethren and all were from the Molotschna Colony. The document
is found among a large collection of documents pertaining to the Mennonite
Brethren in File 278. The list is found on pages 161 to 173 in the original
file and may be found on frames 292 through 315 on the microfilm of
this file.

The list itself is not dated, but it follows a document that was signed
by the head of each family that is dated 30 Dec 1863. Based on a comparison
of the ages given for the people found in the list with the birth dates
from other sources for these people it appears that the list was likely
compiled about May or June of 1864.

It appears that some of the families on this list did not follow through
with their stated intentions to settle in the Kuban Colony since only
67 families are said to have settled there by 1866 (The Kuban Settlement
by C. P. Toews, Heinrich Friesen, and Arnold Dyck, p. 14). In a list
of 67 families living in the Kuban Colony in 1869 that is also found
in File 278, only 53 families found in this 1864 list are found also
found in the 1869 list. Apparently the other 20 families did not follow
through with their stated intentions of moving to the Kuban Colony.
[See also Kuban Census, 1869]

In this translation, the names of the Mennonites and the locations
are shown with the exact same spelling as they appear in the original
document. The words "wife", "son", and "daughter"
have been abbreviated as "w", "s", and "d",
respectively. Information that has been placed in brackets does not
appear in the original but has been added for clarification. There appear
to be a number of spelling errors in the original document. For instance,
the first name of Mr. Friesen, whose family is #32 in the list, is likely
to have been Martin rather than Matin as given in the original. Also,
the first name of Mr. Voth, whose family is #41 in the list, is likely
to have been Andreas rather than Adreas as given in the original. Various
locations are also slightly misspelled. The age of Heinrich Boldt's
daughter Anna found in family #23 appears to have been incorrectly given
as 1 year in the list. Other sources including the 1869 Kuban Colony
Census suggest that she was about 7 years old in 1864.

To provide additional information I think would be helpful to researchers
I have added two columns on the left side of the table that are not
found in the original document. The first column denotes which families
found in this list are also found in the 1869
Kuban Colony Census. The second column provides the GRANDMA number
of the head of the household if they are currently found in the GRANDMA
database.

The original document from which this translation was made may be
found on microfilm at the following archives:

Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Fresno, California

Center for Mennonite Studies, Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas

Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia, Abbotsford, British
Columbia

Mennonite Heritage Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Alf Redekopp and Jake Wiens of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Elli Wise of
Frankfort, Kentucky provided helpful suggestions for the improvement
of this translation.

Whether or not Found in the 1869 Kuban Census

GRANDMA
Number

Family Number

Names of Family Members

Ages

Village of Current Residence

Where Listed in the Last Revision List (1858
Molotschna Colony Census)

Fixed Assets of the Same (Immovable Property
Such as Buildings)

Total Fixed Assets in Rubles

Capital from Land in Rubles

Total of Moveable Household Assets in Rubles

Grand Total in Rubles

Yes

12411

1

Johann Claassen

44

Liebenau

Listed at Sparau No. 44

Collective buildings and combined property for Johann
Claassen’s family and Cornelius Reimer’s family after paying all
debts

4500

In goods 6844

3500

14844

w - Catarina

37

s - Jacob

11

David

8

d - Maria

4

Agnetha

1

Yes

102944

2

Cornelius Reimer

42

Liebenau

Listed at Schönsee No. 41

w - Gertruda

28

s - Abraham

2

Yes

38547

3

Heinrich Hübert

54

Liebenau

Listed at Münsterberg No. 13

Owed 4750

529.5

5279.5

s - Klaas

28

Yes

283353

4

Simon Harms

34

Liebenau

Listed at Schardau No. 37

A brick non-landowner’s house together with a shed
and a barn

1200

432.3

1632.3

w - Agatha

31

s - Heinrich

7

d - Anna

4

Maria

1

Yes

29088

5

Heinrich Nikel

44

Liebenau

Listed at Rudnerweide No. 30

Owed 953

777

1730

w - Katarina

43

d - Katarina

7

Agnetha

4

Yes

2539

6

Peter Nickel

38

Liebenau

Listed at Sparau No. 49

A brick non-landowner’s house

600

200

800

w - Sara

35

s - Peter

11

Heinrich

8

Jakob

4

d - Anna

13

Sara

6

Maria

0

Yes

36531

7

Peter Gäde

21

Libenau Helena was the daughter of David Klassen of
Ladekop.

Listed at Liebenau No. 14

15

15

w - Helena

24

No

8

Katarina Gossen, daughter of Johann Gossen

19

Liebenau

Listed in Liebenau

No property

Yes

3339 and 32781

9

Children of the deceased Pet. Bühler:

Liebenau

Listed at Libenau No. 2

381

Gerhard

22

60

Peter

21

50

Justina

27

180

Helena

25

190

Yes

54220

10

Cornelius Cornelsen

59

Wernersdorf

Listed at Wernersdorf No. 21

A non-landowner’s house

300

359

659

w - Katarina

46

stepsons:

Johann Dick

17

Abrham Lowen

13

stepdaughters:

Anna Dick

23

Sara

21

Elisabeth Löwen

9

No

54218 and 278248

11

Peter Dick

28

Wernersdorf

Listed in Neukich; The Wolf children were listed at
Wernersdorf No. 11

A non-landowner’s house

300

167

467

w - Katarina

41

d - Helena

4

Anna

3

stepsons:

Cornelius Wolf

19

Peter

17

stepdaughter:

Maria

11

Yes

Wife of 54070

12

widow Hübert

46

Wernersdorf

Listed at Wernersdorf No. 1

A house without its own place

50

100

150

s - Abraham

23

Johann

3

No

13

widow Maria Berg

56

Wernersdorf [Additional comment includes the words
“the children”, but the rest of the comment is unreadable.]

s - Jakob

d - Maria

Elisabeth

Yes

14

Peter Siemens

Wernersdorf

120

120

w - Renatha

Renatha was the daughter of Peter Martens of Ladekopa

No

15

Johann Martens

33

Landskron

Listed at Schardau No. 34

A non-landowner’s house next to a stable

625

589.75

1214.75

w - Elisabeth

31

d - Elisabeth

6

Sara

1

Yes

89989

16

Cornelius Penner

27

Landskron

Listed at No. 18

260

260

w - Anna

23

d - Elisabeth

3

Anna

2

No

Sons of 25520

17

The unmarried sons of the landowner Cornelius Penner:

Landskron

Listed at No. 18

Both are still with their parents and thus there is
no property to report

Heinrich

19

Abraham

18

Yes

399985

18

Peter Blok, unmarried

22

Landskron

Listed at No. 24

Owed 144

25

169

Yes

52123

19

Johann Friesen

47

Gnadenheim

Listed at Gnadenheim No. 11

A building and associated farm goods

3300

Owed 50

765

4115

w - Helena

44

s - Gerhard

21

Franz

18

Johann

16

d - Maria

14

No

327851

20

Jakob Martens

32

Gnadenheim

Listed at Blumenort No. 34

A non-landowner’s house

500

Owed 100

466

1066

w - Margaretha

28

s - Wilhelm

5

Franz

2

d - Maria

3

Yes

399381 and 51496

21

Heinrich Boldt

37

Gnadenheim

Listed at Friedensdorf No. 30

A non-landowner’s house

400

Owed 100

150

650

w - Anna

35

s - Heinrich

10

Johann

3

Jakob

0

d - Sara

12

Anna

1

No

172639 and 307560

22

Hermann Peters

24

Gnadenheim

Listed at Prangenau No. 1

A non-landowner’s house

325

380.2

705.2

w - Margaretha

25

s - Herman

2

d - Sara

3

No

102943

23

Jakob Reimer

46

Gnadenfeld

Listed at Schönsee No. 41

A building and nearby house

3500

Owed 36

923.5

4459.5

w - Wilhelmien

46 3

s - Jakob

22

Johann

16

Cornelius

14

Abraham

10

Peter

5

David

0

d - Maria

20

Karoliena

12

No

312808

24

Juli Straus

40

Gnadenfeld

Listed at No. 37

Owed 60

25

85

Yes

27717

25

Johann Pankratz

49

Gnadenfeld

Listed at No. 31

A building and farm property

2500

800.6

3300.6

w - Maria

45

s - David

10

Heinrich

7

Johann

6

d - Anna

25

Elisabeth

22

Susana

18

Katarina

15

Gertrude

1

Yes

57156

26

Children of Bernhard Penner:

Gnadenfeld

Listed at No. 2

Owed 51.50

313.25

364.75

s - Bernhard

25

d - Anna

20

No

106066

27

Karolina Unruh, daughter of Georg Unruh

31

Gnadenfeld

Listed at No. 22

No property

Yes

33915

28

David Dürksen

33

Waldheim

Listed at Lichentenau No. 22

A house without its own place

100

240

340

w - Karolina

30

s - Abraham

1

d - Maria

7

Helena

5

Karolina

4

No

346874

29

Johann Straus

27

Anna was the daughter of Gottlieb Strauss of Waldh.

Listed at Waldheim No. 59

489

489

w - Alwine

23

Anna Straus

20

Yes

3369

30

Friedrich Straus

22

Agnetha was the daughter of Johann Pankratz of Gnadenfeld.

Listed at Waldheim No. 59

119.75

119.75

w - Agnetha

26

s - Johann

0

Yes

Son of 44162

31

Franz Wall, the unmarried son of Heinr. Wall

22

Listed at Blumenort No. 9

15

15

Yes

16191

32

wife of Matin

Sparau

Listed at Sparau No. 27

Since her items have not yet been divided with Mr.
Friesen there is no property to report